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Ellen Steiner: Middle East -- Terrorist vs. militant

Posted:
11/20/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

When civilians are the target of armed attacks, we normally call the perpetrators "terrorists," not "militants." For instance, we don't say that "al-Qaeda militants" attacked the World Trade Center in 2001; we call that incident a "terrorist" attack.

Notice the difference just one word can make in the way we perceive a situation. The only time we elevate terrorists to the status of "militants" -- that is, implying that there is some strategic wartime military action involved, rather than indiscriminate, murderous, violence towards civilians, is when the perpetrators are Palestinians. The press consistently, continuously, refers to Palestinian terrorists as "militants."

Hiding behind euphemisms obscures the truth and leads to unfair biases in public opinion, not to mention peace negotiations. Let us hope for peace for both Israelis and Palestinians in this dark time in the Middle East.

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